Chapter Fourteen
The heat of the sun blazed down upon the back of my neck, but I took a moment to scan the scene before me. The faces of the crowd were hostile and violent, and the guards standing around Evyn Edinburg were shuffling nervously as they watched the horde of people. The duke’s son looked unbothered by the rage his people showed, and he propped a boot up on the back of a man who laid in the mud below him, which pushed the man’s face even further into the ground.
I couldn’t see much of the guy below Evyn’s foot, but he had short-clipped auburn hair and large, muscular arms. An anvil was tattooed on his bare shoulder, so I wondered if he was a blacksmith.
“Who the fuck do you think you are?” Evyn Edinburg’s shoulders stiffened as he glared up at me, and his nose wrinkled with disgust. “Get this horse out of here!”
“Let him go, Evyn,” I urged in a hard voice. “By the command of the Archduke.”
“Oh, is that supposed to scare me?” Evyn snorted. “The Archduke is in Vallenwood, far, far away from here. He won’t save you from my fury, so you better flee before I unleash my soldiers.”
I could already tell by the way the armed men tensed for action that he wasn’t bluffing, but I didn’t care. My last save point was from earlier in the day, but I could always reset if things went south, so I withdrew my feather sword and pointed it at Evyn.
“Let the blacksmith go,” I commanded in a loud, clear voice, and boo’s echoed from the gathered crowd.
The people of Aramore were out for the blacksmith’s blood, but I wasn’t sure why.
Maybe I was saving a guilty man?
It didn’t matter. No one deserved to be lynched by a mob like this, and if he was guilty of some crime, then there should be a fair trial. Instead, it looked like he’d been dragged in front of the crowd and beaten by the lord personally.
What did the blacksmith do?
My curiosity was raging as I waited for Evyn’s answer, and the lesser lord scowled up at me from beneath his curly blond hair.
“Or what?” Evyn sneered. “You’re going to poke me with your sword? I’ll have you know I am the son of the Duke of Edinburg!”
“I know who you are, Evyn,” I informed him. “You’re actually why I’m in Aramore to begin with, but we’ll get to that later. Release the blacksmith. If he’s committed a crime, then he can stand trial, but this is unjust, and I won’t stand for it.”
“Who the fuck do you think you are?” Evyn screeched, and his face bloomed a brilliant shade of purple as he lost his cool.
I straightened my shoulders and lifted my chin. “I am Sir Sebastian, Archduke of Bastianville, Dragon Slayer, and the God of Time. Who the fuck do you think you are, Evyn Edinburg?”
“Guards!” With his boot still propped on the guy’s back, Evyn leaned forward and glared up at me. “Kill this imbecile pretending to be the archduke.”
“Bash, watch out!” Mahini called out, and I turned just in time to avoid the arrow that zipped across the street toward my head.
Oh, this was going to be fun.
I took a quick tally of the number of enemies before me, but I was more than capable of handling the twenty men on my own.
Or so I hoped, since I kinda didn’t want to reset unless I really had to.
I spotted four archers, six spearmen, and ten swordsmen, plus Evyn. I was outnumbered, but at least I had some of the best damn companions a guy could ask for at my back.
“Protect Elissa!” I ordered, and then I nudged my heels against Goliath’s flanks as I brought his head around. I aimed my steed at the archer on the other side of the street, and I had a second target in my peripherals as well. “Hiya!”
“You got it, Bash!” Ako yelled, and he moved his horse in front of Elissa’s mare, Star. “Go get ‘em!”
I was satisfied the cat-man would do everything in his power to keep my pregnant wife safe, so I turned my full attention to the soldiers with bows. An instant later, Goliath was trampling over the man who’d shot an arrow at me while he fumbled for another. The projectile never made it to the string, though, since I leaned down across my horse’s mane to slash across his throat with my feather sword.
One down.
I swiveled and took aim at the next archer in my vision, but before I could even move toward him, an arrow shot from Mahini’s drawn bow and buried itself in the man’s eyeball. The second archer dropped his weapon as he crumpled to the ground, and his arrows spilled from the quiver strapped to his back.
Fuck, she was a good shot.
“You’re awesome, Mahini!” I hollered over my shoulder, and I looked for a new opponent.
Three guards with spears lowered moved to surround Goliath, but the trained warhorse wasn’t having any of it. The white stallion huffed out his breath before he kicked out his rear legs, and his hooves collided with two metal-plated chests. The pair of guards let out loud grunts of pain as they flew backward into the mud, and the gathered crowd quickly backed away from their motionless bodies.
The other spear man’s eyes widened with fear as Goliath spun in a circle to face him, and I grinned as I lowered my sword toward his face.
“Wanna join your pals?” I asked, and I smacked his spearpoint away from me with my feather sword.
“You’re under arrest!” The soldier gripped his spear shaft firmly, and a look of determination filled his eyes.
“No, you are,” I countered, and I clicked my tongue to give my steed the go ahead to end this sorry excuse of a man.
Goliath nickered, and right on cue, the white warhorse swiveled before he kicked up his hind legs and smashed his hooves into the spearman.
“Bash!” Elissa screamed, and my heart froze in my chest at the sound of her distress.
I spun around in my saddle to see Ako and my wife surrounded by the swordsmen. My wife’s horse wasn’t trained for battle the way mine was, and the shapeshifter was outnumbered. The cat-wizard had both of his Razmadan summoned, and his mouth was shifted into a fang-toothed muzzle. He snarled at the five men closing in on him, and he parried blow after blow while I watched from the other side of the street.
“Mahini!” I called out as I scanned over the heads of the crowd for my warrior woman.
I found her on the other side of the street a few paces away from Elissa and Ako, but she was taking aim at one of the men who surrounded them. Then Caelia’s scream pierced the air, and I turned toward the sound to find Evyn ripping the dark-skinned beauty from her horse while Eva aimed a throwing star at the duke’s son’s head. My fiancée’s smoky-gray eyes flicked to my face, and her gaze was full of self-doubt as her hand froze in mid-air.
Things had gotten out of hand, and the duke’s son had honed in on my only weakness.
My companions.
“Well. Shit.” It was time to reset and approach the problem from another angle since I didn’t want anything bad to happen to the most vulnerable among my team. I loved them more than anything in this world, or any other world for that matter, and I swore to protect them at all costs, so that’s exactly what I planned to do next time.
Chime.
The desert winds blew harshly against my tunic, and I narrowed my eyes as I glared into the brightness of the sandy landscape. Judging by the position of the sun, it was early morning, and I was about to start my day all over again.
The six of us had just packed up our camp and mounted our horses. We were half a day’s ride away from Aramore, and spirits were high. We were all ready for hot baths and a soft bed, so it was easy to set a brisk pace. As we approached the port city, however, I pulled our little caravan to a halt on the side of the road.
“Evyn Edinburg is in Aramore,” I reminded my friends. “And like Exavier, he’ll be surrounded by guards.”
“We can take them!” Elissa said with determination shining in her gem-like eyes.
More than anything, I didn’t want to upset my pregnant wife, and I knew women had a tendency to be more sensitive during this special time, so I chose my words very carefully.
“I’d like to try confronting him on my own first,” I said in a hesitant tone. “I think that is the safest route for everyone.”
“You… You don’t want me to help?” Elissa’s bottom lip began to quiver, and I feared the worst. “But I’m your Skullcrusher.”
“It’s not that, Lissy,” I hurried to assure her. “Caelia is still learning how to protect herself, and you do have the baby to think about. Plus, I can’t be in two places at once. We’re all ready for some hot baths and warm beds, but I want to go see Evyn first. Can I put you in charge of finding a nice inn for us to stay in? Make sure they have running hot water and meal service.”
My wife thought over my words for a moment, and I could see her fighting an internal battle behind her emerald eyes. I held my breath while I waited for a harsh response, but Elissa had never spoken to me like that before, so it would be a first. Still, she was pregnant, so who knew how that would affect her already short fuse.
After a long silent moment, however, a hesitant smile stretched her petite lips.
“I can do that!” Then Elissa’s face brightened, and she nodded to Caelia and Eva. “Will you two help? We can have food waiting for the others by the time they return.”
My wonderful wife had picked up on exactly what I needed to happen, and she’d managed to make my job a lot easier. It made me love her more than ever, and I wanted nothing more than to scoop her into my arms, but we had a mission to complete.
Evyn Edinburg didn’t know who he was fucking with, but he would soon learn what happened when you disrespected the God of Time.
“Ako, Mahini,” I said. “You two come with me, but be ready. We will most likely have to fight our way out.”
“Right behind you, my friend,” Ako replied.
Mahini’s piercing blue eyes burned with battle lust as she nodded.
The six of us split into two groups with Elissa, Eva, and Caelia going in search of rooms for the night while Ako, Mahini, and I led our horses down the empty streets toward the crowd of angry townspeople. When Ako pointed out the buzz of combined voices, I nodded knowingly.
“It’s the combination of a thousand angry people,” I informed him. “They’re out for blood, but I’m not sure their anger is well-placed.”
“We should stay alert,” Mahini suggested, and she narrowed her ice-blue eyes.
“There’s twenty armed soldiers surrounding the duke’s son,” I said. “Four archers, six spearmen, and ten swordsmen. Take out the archers first.”
“Good thinking.” Ako nodded, but his honey-colored eyes were unfocused as he prepared for the upcoming fight. The shapeshifter flexed his hands around his horse’s reins, and his shoulders were stiff, but his tail swayed with a casual air, so I knew he wasn’t too bothered.
I shook my head in amusement at my own observation. Never in a million years would I have been able to predict I’d be living in a magical fantasy world with a shapeshifting cat-wizard as my buddy.
The three of us approached the crowded street junction where Evyn Edinburg was beating the shit out of the blacksmith. I still didn’t know what had caused this scene to unfold to begin with, but I could get to that later. First, I had to disarm the meaningless lord so I could ask him a few questions about where his pops could be holed up at.
I was tempted to make a new save point right before I interacted with the duke’s son, but it wasn’t too much of a hassle to reset to the early morning. Redoing the day all over again would give me a chance to rethink my strategies and calm down from any emotional manipulation from the Edinburg asshole.
This time, I didn’t ride Goliath through the crowd to see what was going on because I already knew, so we stopped on the outskirts of the crowd before we dismounted our steeds.
“Keep your guards up,” I instructed. “This crowd is out for blood, but I don’t think they care whose.”
“What are you going to do?” Ako asked, and he flicked his wrist to summon a Razmadan.
“I’m going to get close to Evyn,” I said. “I don’t think the soldiers will attack if I have him as my hostage.”
“What do you need from us?” Mahini asked.
“Take out the archers as stealthily as you can.” I worked the muscle in my jaw. “They’ll be located higher than the crowd to get a good vantage point, so they should be easy to spot. They aren’t expecting any real challenges to arise from this crowd, so we’ll be able to take them by surprise.”
“And once you get the lord?” Ako questioned.
“I’ll figure it out on the fly.” I shrugged. “All part of being a god.”
“If you say so.” Ako smirked.
“Please be safe, Bash,” Mahini requested, and her brow furrowed with concern.
“Don’t worry about me.” I grinned. “I’m the immortal one, remember?”
“Let’s not put it to the test too much,” the desert goddess replied, and the corners of her lips twitched into the faintest hint of a smile.
With our plan settled, the three of us split up to make our way through the densely packed crowd of people. I kept my fist wrapped around the hilt of my feather sword, but I was hesitant to withdraw it until absolutely necessary. I didn’t want to fight the townspeople if it was possible to avoid it.
I mumbled polite niceties under my breath as I pressed my way through the horde of bodies, but I had to squeeze between two large, sweaty, fat men before I broke through to the center.
Then I withdrew my sword as I marched toward Evyn.
“Let the blacksmith go,” I commanded in a loud, clear voice.
A gasp shot through the gathered crowd, and I cast a quick glance around to gauge how likely they were to attack. The muddied faces wore scowls and expressions of shock, but no one moved any closer toward me. I couldn’t see Ako or Mahini anywhere, so I just had to hope they were close to succeeding in eliminating the archers.
“Who the fuck do you think you are?” The duke’s son looked at me in surprise as he faced down the tip of my sword. “Guards!”
“Think they’re fast enough to save your life?” I asked as I moved closer.
“You think I am defenseless?” Evyn sneered, and he pulled out two long rapiers from either side of his waist. “Fool.”
I held my ground while I waited for him to make the first move, but I was ready the second he stepped off the blacksmith’s back.
“Chs.” I flicked my left wrist to summon my ice spell, and I sprayed a blast of icicles at Evyn’s feet, which glued him to the muddy ground. The moisture already present on the cobblestone streets aided my magic in holding the duke’s son prisoner, and I resisted the urge to whoop with joy.
“A mage!” The people at the front edge of the crowd scurried backward, and the announcement swept through the horde like wildfire. The next thing I knew, the street was engulfed in chaos as the angry mob dispersed in every direction at once.
With Evyn securely frozen in place, I turned my attention to the blacksmith, and I helped him to his feet as people ran all around us in a flurry of activity and kept the guards from advancing on me.
“Are you okay?” I shouted in his ear over the noise of the people.
“I am now,” he yelled back. “Thank you, friend.”
“Stay close,” I urged. “I have some questions for you.”
“Whatever you say,” the man replied, and he grabbed my forearm in a firm shake. “You saved my life!”
Then I heard the sound of ice cracking, and I swiveled around to see the ice around Evyn’s feet beginning to crack. The asshole had stabbed it repeatedly with his rapiers, and the tiny holes were quickly weakening the restraints on his feet.
“Son of a bitch,” I cursed, and I clapped the blacksmith on the shoulder before I released him.
I hoped the blacksmith would be true to his word and stay nearby, but I had my doubts. If he was guilty of some crime, then he would probably get as far away from here as possible, but if he was wrongly attacked by the duke’s son, then I was sure he would want to clear his name. Still, he didn’t know I was the Archduke and the God of Time, so I was just some random guy who saved him. Either way, I could always reset and focus on him in a different run through, so I let him go without a fight.
I had a duke’s son to deal with.
I grabbed Evyn Edinburg by the elbow with my left hand, and I easily blocked the blow of his rapier with my feather sword as he slashed blindly over his shoulder. Then I held my blade against his throat, and he ceased his movements.
“Call off your guards,” I commanded in a firm voice.
“They won’t hear me,” Evyn said, and his eyes flicked to the people dashing every which way. “Get me out of here, and you’ll be rewarded.”
“All I want is answers,” I said.
“Who are you?” Evyn’s peered at me through narrowed eyes.
“I am Sir Sebastian, Archduke of Bastianville, Dragon Slayer, and the God of Time.” I grinned, but he couldn’t see it. “Have you heard of me?”
“I have.” Evyn nodded, and I watched his Adam’s apple bob up and down as he swallowed hard. “Now, get me out of this chaos!”
“Fine.” I sheathed my feather sword without releasing my grip on his elbow, and then I reached around him to pull the rapier from his grasp. “I’m keeping this.”
“You can’t do that,” Evyn whined.
I ignored him, though, and I aimed the palm of my hand at his frozen feet. “Fur.”
The flames bloomed from my hand and licked at the ice surrounded Evyn’s boots, and a moment later, the duke’s son was able to kick the icy slush off his feet.
“Thank you.” Evyn nodded. “Now, finish what you’ve started. Get me to safety.”
“Why don’t you use your father’s authority to calm the crowd?” I asked as I shoved the duke’s son toward the edge of the street.
We bumped into a woman running down the cobblestone path, and she careened into a large man who was thundering in the other direction. The two collided and went down in front of us, but I pushed Evyn to the side just in time to avoid them. Then we made it to the safety of an alleyway, and I glanced around the chaotic scene in search of my two companions.
I couldn’t see them anywhere, but I didn’t see any archers perched above the crowd, either, so it looked like their mission was a success. I exhaled a sigh of relief as I turned back to the duke’s son.
The blond man appeared to be a little older than me, but he huffed and puffed from the slight exertion used to make our way out of the crowd. He was bent over with his hands on his knees, and his breath came in painful gasps.
“Are you going to be okay?” I asked with a furrowed brow. I didn’t want him to die on me, at least not before I could get the answers I needed from him.
“I have the breathing sickness,” Evyn gasped. “It will fade.”
Was he talking about asthma?
I almost laughed out loud at my sudden good fortune. I was only on my second attempt, and I’d already discovered the duke’s son’s weakness.
“I got you to safety,” I pointed out. “It’s time for you to answer my questions.”
“Give… me… a moment, please,” Evyn stammered as he struggled to catch his breath.
“I want answers, now.” I gripped his elbow tightly as I wrenched his arm around behind his back. His back was arched at a painful angle, and his face contorted with discomfort. “Where’s your father hiding?”
“I-I-I… don’t k-k-know…” Evyn stammered out. “Release me!”
“Is he at Edinburg Manor?” I pressed, and I pushed the duke’s son up against the wall of the building on one side of the alley. His face squished up against the bricks, and his eyes were full of terror as they danced wildly around in search of an escape from his current predicament.
“My brother is!” Evyn gasped. “He would know where father is!”
“Why doesn’t your dad trust you?” I asked with a shake of my head. “You’re just as expendable as your little brother.”
“What did you do to Exavier?” Evyn’s eyes widened even further, and the whites were streaked with red as he stared over his shoulder at me.
“Nothing,” I chuckled. “And I’m not going to do anything to you. I’m after your father, and the sooner he is back in Vallenwood, the better, so don’t waste my time.”
“This is no way for an Archduke to act toward another member of the nobility,” Evyn whined.
“I’m not a normal noble,” I pointed out. “Why were you hurting that blacksmith?”
“He refused his duty!” The words were rolling off his tongue now, so I pulled his face back away from the bricks ever so slightly to encourage him to continue talking. “Every smith in the territory is required to submit themselves to the army. How else are we to arm and outfit our men?”
“Well, it didn’t seem like he wanted to join your little traitor army,” I observed. “Maybe you should have left him alone.”
“I had my own orders to follow,” Evyn informed me. “My father’s command was to hunt down any defectors and make examples of them.”
“You sure know how to rile up a crowd.” I shook my head. “I’m glad I let that guy go before it got too wild.”
“Now, I will have to make an example of the entire town of Aramore,” Evyn sighed.
“You’re disgusting.” I frowned as I thought about all the innocent lives the Edinburgs were fucking with just to save the duke’s ass. The entire territory was affected by Eurik’s decisions, but he didn’t seem to care too much about the lives of his people.
Things were certainly going to change around here after I returned the duke to Vallenwood. The trial would show all of Sorreyal who Edinburg really was, and I doubted his people would remain loyal once the truth was revealed.
In the meantime, I had his son on the ropes, but it didn’t seem like I would get any more information out of him than I had Exavier. I could always reset and ignore Evyn’s presence in Aramore, but I didn’t want the blacksmith to suffer, so I still had to save him at the very least.
I was ready to reset, though, so I released Evyn from my grasp.
“Well, thanks for being a giant waste of time,” I said, and I gave him a mock salute as I went back to my save point.
Chime.
It was the early morning again, but I was expecting the blazing hot light of the sun, so I closed my eyes as the familiar tingling sensation faded. I was ready to try a different tactic, so I signaled for my companions to gather around.
“We are half a day’s ride from Aramore where Evyn Edinburg is about to beat the town blacksmith to death,” I informed my lovers and friends. “I want to save the man since he didn’t do anything to receive the punishment he is receiving. There’s no way to reach Aramore before the duke’s son starts to gather a large crowd, so we’ll have to work with an angry mob as well as twenty of Edinburg’s soldiers.”
“Sounds like we have our hands full,” Ako observed, and his honey-colored eyes were serious. “What is our main objective?”
“Save the blacksmith,” I said. “Evyn doesn’t know where his dad is, but he could have some other valuable information we can glean from him, so our secondary objective is to get the duke’s son alone.”
“You say there will be an angry mob?” Elissa asked, and her emerald-green eyes were thoughtful. “Maybe if we separate, we can get the crowd to change sides.”
“You mean convince the people to turn against their ruling lord?” I frowned as I thought it over. I still didn’t want to put Elissa or Caelia in harm’s way, but I had to admit, things would be easier without the angry mob. It was always worth a shot, anyway. “We can try it.”
We rode to Aramore as fast as we could, but the duke’s son was already kicking the blacksmith in the gut by the time we made our way through the densely packed crowd. It didn’t seem like there would be any way to prevent the man from having to take the abuse, but I could still save his life.
“He’s innocent,” I said to the man standing beside me. “I can’t believe they’re doing this. Who will be next?”
The man halted his jeering chants to blink at me in confusion. “What do you mean, who will be next?”
“If the duke sent his son after anyone not willing to join the army, then there’s no telling what they will do with others who stand against them.” I shrugged. “We are basically their slaves now.”
“I’m no slave,” the man argued with a shake of his head. “I’m with the blacksmith! This is wrong!”
“Yeah!” I added my voice to his, and a few more people turned to look at us in confusion.
I let my neighbor explain his thoughts to the curious ears, and I moved back into the crowd to continue my work. I passed by a couple of my companions as we made our way through the angry mob and talked some sense into them bit by bit. The chants slowly began to change into hesitation and questions by the time I made my way back to the center of the mob, and the duke’s son looked around in confusion. His angry mob was gone, and it had been replaced by a group of people unsatisfied by the tough love leadership he’d been doling out to one of their own.
“Let him go!” I said, and I nudged the person next to me. “Tell him, free the blacksmith!”
“Yeah!” another voice added to my chant. “Free the blacksmith!”
“Free the blacksmith!” Everyone began to say the words in unison, and the air filled with tension once more, but this time it was directed toward saving a man’s life.
“Who said that?” Evyn demanded, and he pressed his boot even harder upon the blacksmith’s back.
A couple of people rushed forward, but then they hesitated to do anything, and they quickly rejoined the crowd.
The duke’s son eyed them warily, and he signaled for his guards to come closer. “The next person to take a step toward me will be arrested.”
“Even the Archduke of Bastianville?” I asked in a loud voice as I stepped into the center of the crowd. “I command you to release the blacksmith in the name of the king.”
“I am acting on the orders of my father, Duke Edinburg,” Evyn argued. “I think he has jurisdiction within his own territory, don’t you?”
“Maybe before he was caught plotting to overthrow the king,” I declared loud enough for the crowd to hear me, and startled gasps swept through the people. “Your father was stripped of his lands and titles when he was arrested.”
“That’s a lie!” Evyn’s eyes widened, and his voice grew desperate. “My father is an innocent man! The Archduke is spreading vicious rumors.”
“I am on a mission from the king to hunt your father down and return him to justice,” I announced. “I will not rest until I find him, but I will not stand by while innocent men are beaten to death, so release the blacksmith. Now.”
Evyn Edinburg stared at me in disbelief for a long moment, and he looked like he was about to refuse. Then his gaze flicked to the once angry mob who no longer supported his cause, and his shoulders slumped with defeat.
“By your command,” Evyn sneered, but he kicked the blacksmith one more time in the stomach before he stepped away from the man.
I reached down and offered the man my hand, and he smiled gratefully as I helped him to his feet. The crowd cheered, and the blacksmith looked around in awe at the sudden change from angry mob to heartwarming supporters.
The God of Time had done it again.
Now, I just needed to handle the situation with the duke’s son, and then I could go take an hour-long soak in a hot tub.
Before I could say anything to the blacksmith, the duke’s son marched across the distance to me, pulled his gauntlet from his hand, and slapped me across the face with it.
“No one disrespects me and gets away with it!” Evyn declared. “Withdraw your sword and face me.”
Did this motherfucker just challenge me to a duel?
Evyn Edinburg had no idea who he was messing with if he thought he could get the upper hand on a god. I was about to teach yet another haughty lord a little humility, and I felt excitement course through my veins.
Whatever challenge he had in mind, I was up for it.
I was the God of Winning, after all.